Cork’s Public Bike Schemes – Continuing the Journey

One year after the official launch of CokeZeroBikes (Cork), the Transport and Mobility Forum Cork (TMF) hosted a half-day seminar on 8th March 2016 on the scheme. The event saw a packed conference room in the Metropole Hotel with about 50 delegates with professional transport / bicycle planning backgrounds attending. Presentations were given on the public bike schemes by the NTA and a group of Master’s students from the UCC Centre for Planning, while the smaller scale Clonakilty Community Bike Scheme received lots of praise too. Planners for Cork City Council reported on their infrastructure improvement projects as did those from County Hall (i.e. Cork County Council) and Cork University Hospital. Delegates learned that there are a number of major employers yet not with the reach of the public bikes.

In the lively discussion, many attendees expressed the hope that the NTA would soon expand the scheme, building on its overwhelming success. This was echoed by the NTA’s Michael Aherne, although he had to try hard to keep expectations low. The NTA would first need to help the two other schemes (Limerick and Galway) up on their feet, although officials in Dublin were more than surprised about the rocket start of the Cork scheme. He pointed out that “in Dublin, we had to wait five years to see how the [Dublin Bikes] system developed and to understand usage patterns. In Cork, however, the emergence of a cycling culture appears to be happening on a fast track.“ Coordinated promotion from various sides and bodies, many of them part of the TMF, such as Cork Cycling Campaign, the Cork Councils, UCC and others, are making a valuable contribution to that success.
For more information visit: Transport & Mobility Forum (Cork) and Cork Cycling Campaign